just a reminder that a lot of people supporting “light it up blue” aren’t aware of its negative connotations.

a lot of people dont know why autism speaks is bad, and it never occurs to them to look up if it has issues.

it is none of our duties to educate these people during april, but keep in mind that people may not be malicious, just ignorant.

If you DO want to educate them, here is a 40 page essay about why autism speaks is bad, with works cited.

use this as you will

The way neurotypical scientists frame autistic behavior is so fucked up.

Autistic people tend to talk enthusiastically, and at length about the things we love. You can frame this in one of two ways

“Autistic people show a strong desire to share the things they love with those around them”

Or

“Autistic people are self-centered, obsessive and unaware of other people, and show no desire to have reciprocal conversation”

And, guess which one the neurotypical scientists go for?

Autism isn’t something a person has, or a “shell” that a person is trapped inside. There’s no normal child hidden behind the autism. Autism is a way of being. It is pervasive; it colors every experience, every sensation, perception, thought, emotion, and encounter, every aspect of existence. It is not possible to separate the autism from the person—and if it were possible, the person you’d have left would not be the same person you started with.

This is important, so take a moment to consider it: Autism is a way of being. It is not possible to separate the person from the autism.

Therefore, when parents say,

I wish my child did not have autism,

what they’re really saying is,

I wish the autistic child I have did not exist, and I had a different (non-autistic) child instead.

Read that again. This is what we hear when you mourn over our existence. This is what we hear when you pray for a cure. This is what we know, when you tell us of your fondest hopes and dreams for us: that your greatest wish is that one day we will cease to be, and strangers you can love will move in behind our faces.

Jim Sinclair, “Don’t Mourn For Us” x (via andrandiriel)

(spooky: i was mulling over this today in the context of asd versus personality disorders & constructs.)

goldenheartedrose:

strawberrypatty:

messier-104:

kate-wisehart:

In my eleven years as a professional stagehand and twenty years as a participant in fandom, I have never been treated with this much respect and dignity by a performing member of the entertainment industry. Kim Rhodes (Jody Mills on Supernatural) made me cry today, in the best of ways.

This is how you ally. Thank you, Kim, you made me feel like a human being. I can’t imagine a better mother for your daughter; she’s in great hands.

[tweets]

And my esteem of Kim Rhodes has gone up by a million. I thought she was pretty cool before, but this makes her amazing. I have immense respect for someone who is willing to listen to someone’s opinion and actually let it change their own.

This is fantastic and might have made my whole day.